1 Ill
2 Europeans, for the most part French and English officers, in
3 the service of the Lahore government. It was the common
4 saying, that we should bye and bye form a colony ; but Jellah
5 Pundit dismissed them from the service, one after the other,
6 alleging economical motives, but, in fact, from religious fanaticism ;
7 so that I and the Spaniard only remained. But at last I too was
8 dismissed. Nevertheless, I remained in the city ; and cautiously
9 made preparations for my departure, and for that purpose
10 had sold all my effects at a very low price. I did this partly by
11 the advice of my friends, partly by my own inclination, per-
12 suaded as I was that such misgovernment could not be of long
13 duration, and anticipating what the future must bring forth.
14 I did not doubt for one moment that they would bring the heads
15 of the minister and his bad adviser as trophies to Lahore ; and
16 my supposition was realised by the result. The fanatics, the
17 Akalees (immortals), or rather the robber-pack, the Nahungs,
18 exhibited for money the head of Jellah, at Lahore and Umritsir:
19 “ That is the rogue,” they exclaimed, “ who induced the young
20 Heera Sing to murder his uncle, the brave Rajah Soochet Sing,
21 for which he wanted an army of 20,000 men, although his
22 antagonist was only assisted by forty valiant mountaineers.”
23 This murder happened in a small mosque, five miles from
24 I .ah ore. Jellah, the idol of Heera Sing, intrigued as a decided
25 fanatic against the high priest of the Sikhs, Gooroo Baba Beer
26 Sing. Under the pretext that this holy man was on good terms
27 with the rebels and fugitives, and collected them in his camp, in
28 order to surrender the country to the English, he spurred the
29 minister on to send a part of his troops to the residence of the
30 priest, and to take the fugitives prisoners. At this expedition,
31 accompanied by great bustle, the Gooroo was shot, together with
32 a great number of horned cattle (holy beasts, sacred among the
33 Hindoos and Sikhs), and numerous poor people supported by
34 the charity of the priest; part of them were driven into the
35 river Sutlej, near to Hurekee-ke-Puttun (a ferry on the Sutlej),
36 where they perished. Among the slain there was also Cashmere
37 Sing, son to Runjeet Sing, who had been driven from the fort-